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https://www.ft.com/content/f77fe7ee-6165-427a-8754-e90d22d5689f
The government is planning to cut the earnings threshold at which graduates begin repaying student loans in a bid to save the Treasury money and push more young people towards cheaper vocational education. Chancellor Rishi Sunak wants to overhaul student financing in his spending review ahead of next month’s Budget, reflecting Treasury concerns that the taxpayer is footing too great a burden of funding university courses. Currently graduates start to pay back student loans when their salary hits £27,295, but ministers are looking to reduce that figure. “That’s the plan,” said one minister. The Augar review of post-18 education in 2019 recommended the threshold be lowered to £23,000, median non-graduate earnings at the time, and the Higher Education Policy Institute think-tank this year modelled a cut to less than £20,000.
The government is planning to cut the earnings threshold at which graduates begin repaying student loans in a bid to save the Treasury money and push more young people towards cheaper vocational education. Chancellor Rishi Sunak wants to overhaul student financing in his spending review ahead of next month’s Budget, reflecting Treasury concerns that the taxpayer is footing too great a burden of funding university courses. Currently graduates start to pay back student loans when their salary hits £27,295, but ministers are looking to reduce that figure. “That’s the plan,” said one minister. The Augar review of post-18 education in 2019 recommended the threshold be lowered to £23,000, median non-graduate earnings at the time, and the Higher Education Policy Institute think-tank this year modelled a cut to less than £20,000.